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Board of Directors
Phillippe E. Baumann, Chairman
Andrea Baumann Lustig, President
Roger R. Baumann
Nadine D. Grelsamer
Ivan L. Lustig
Nicole Montalette

ARIF Security Appeal

ARIF is launching a special fundraising effort to contribute to strengthening safety and security for Jewish schools and synagogues in France.  Preserving Jewish works and institutions in France has been our mission since ARIF was founded in 1943. In light of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris  the need for immediate and concrete action is clear.

As a 501c3 nonprofit with a 70+ year history of involvement in the French Jewish community, ARIF is uniquely positioned to help. Contributions received by ARIF through this appeal will be directed to French organizations dedicated to protecting school children and synagogues, improving security and sharing information about security implementation.  Given its leadership in security since its founding in 1980, the SPJC (Service de Protection de la Communauté Juive), an apolitical non-profit, will be among the principal beneficiaries of this campaign. Members of SPJC’s Executive Committee are appointed by CRIF (the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France), FSJU (the Jewish United Social Fund), and the Rabbinate of the Jewish Community. SPCJ is in the process of implementing a widely endorsed Security Plan for Synagogues, an extension of its Security Plan for Schools launched in September 2012, but is lacking the necessary funds to complete its implementation.

Your donation can make an immediate difference. ARIF has received direct reports of children unable to leave their classrooms for lunch or recess because of insufficient security at their schools. Simple measures such as digital code access doors, security guards, and window blinds are beyond the budgets of many Jewish schools and synagogues which are actively involved in trying to maintain calm within their communities. A donation of $500 will permit the purchase and installation of a TV screen enabling alerts to be broadcast from SPCJ’s central command; $1250 funds one day of security training  and $4000 enables the purchase and installation of the access control system.  Although the French military is currently guarding Jewish sites, it is clear that this can’t continue in perpetuity. ARIF has reports of parents pulling their children out of Jewish schools in an effort to assure their safety, thereby jeopardizing the budgets and future of the schools and synagogues themselves. Your donations will help immediately improve safety and security and therefore the future of the Jewish community in France. As France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in a statement outside the Hyper Cacher market following the attacks: “France without Jews is not France.” His speech denouncing the rise of anti-Semitism before France’s National Assembly also observed that “When the Jews of France are attacked, France is attacked, the conscience of humanity is attacked. Let us never forget that.” 

Click here to read his address.

Please help maintain Jewish life in France by making a donation today. Checks can be made payable to A.R.I.F. and mailed to ARIF c/o Stralem & Company, Inc., 645 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022 or click on the link https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/arif or on the button below.